For the first time this season, the Hawkeye baseball team is preparing to play in front of the home crowd today at Banks Field, hosting Northwestern (Iowa) College. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

Iowa (3-6) enters the game on the heels of dropping two of three games at Southern Illinois over the weekend. The Red Raiders (4-4) come to Iowa City after sweeping Ashford (Iowa) College in a double-header on Feb. 27.

The game features a pitching matchup between two young right-handers, with freshman Cole McDonald (0-1, 9.00 ERA) taking the hill for the Hawks and sophomore Raphael Dehoyos (1-1, 3.00 ERA) starting for Northwestern.

Iowa head coach Rick Heller said today’s contest will be used to test his young and inexperienced pitchers.

“We want to go home and get the bats rolling and see a lot of freshman pitchers and pitchers who haven’t thrown a lot,” Heller said. “We have to get better and improve, and hopefully, we can start that [today].”

McDonald, a New Hampton native, was named an Iowa High School Coaches Association first team all-state honoree as a senior and was rated as a top-500 prospect nationally by Perfect Game.

McDonald’s lone defeat didn’t come from a starting position. The 6-1 righty picked up the loss against Dallas Baptist on Feb. 21 in one inning of relief. Now, he’ll get his first shot at the starting rotation.

Aside from McDonald, Heller said at the team’s media day that a myriad of freshmen would get their shot early in the season.

“There are a lot of [young] guys who are really doing a good job and fighting for spots,” Heller said.

Offensively, the Hawkeyes have struggled in 2016. Strong performances at the plate have been hard to come by, with the team hitting just .238 compared with Northwestern’s .342 average.

Most bright spots at the plate have come by way of senior shortstop Nick Roscetti, who is hitting .333; he leads the team in most offensive categories.

Now, after a poor offensive showing against Southern Illinois, including in a nail-biting loss against the Salukis in Game 1 of the series on March 4, Hawkeye bats will need to wake up at Banks Field today.

“We were in a lot of close games and fighting until the end, and just knowing that the person behind you will step up and do his job is just a really big thing,” Roscetti said.

Joel Booker, Hawkeye outfielder who also averages .333 at the plate, didn’t sugarcoat how the team has been hitting.

“We haven’t really been swinging it the way we want to,” Booker said before the Southern Illinois series.

As the Hawkeyes and Red Raiders meet on the diamond this afternoon, Heller knows that Northwestern, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team, will put up a fight. To fend off the Red Raiders, Heller said his team just has to keep it simple.